Switch Naming Proposition #3 - Honeywell Hall Effect Switche

[HaaTa]

This problem, less hard. But there is still an annoying naming problem.

Vintage vs. not. Calling switches vintage, while cool, lends us to problems where someone finds vintage of vintage (Vintage Alps anyone?). And, as a teaser, I have some clone switches as well...

Unfortunately, the switches are different in hard briefly describe ways...
Type of plate mounting, slider shape, and number of magnets...hmm that gave me an idea.

Honeywell Dual Magnet Hall Effect
Micro Switch 64SW1-4
https://plus.google.com/photos/11384566 ... 4082633025

Honeywell Hall Effect
Burroughs TP130
https://plus.google.com/photos/11384566 ... banner=pwa


There are still the part numbers as well, but those are fine the way they are (not every switch has them though).

Any thoughts?

[Parak]

I'd dump the entire vintage moniker. For example, nobody (that I know of?) calls Model F type buckling springs 'vintage buckling springs', and instead the correct 'capacitive buckling springs' is widely used.

[dorkvader]

I probably started the whole "vintage" / "modern" thing, as when I first started looking into this, I couldn't find any of the "dual magnet" ones newer than about 1980 and none of the "normal" ones older than about 1979. Calling them vintage and modern when there is a clear changeover makes sense as the switch operating principles, pinout, etc are all the same.

Further research kept putting the oldest "modern" switches futher back, and newest "vintage" ones further forward until it became clear that the distinction is something different.

I dont think there are many pictures online yet (other than the ones I took, which might not have been uploaded) but the round stem ones have what appears to be very old school hall effect sensors. There's a little window where you can clearly see the components. The switches I had been calling "modern" the hall effect sensor is a small black dot of epoxy (or similar) like you see in more modern ICs. Other than the convenient date thing, this was the primary motivation for naming them as I did.

Like I said, though, the "vintage" / "modern" thing doesn't really make sense now, as there seems to have been a large number of overlap years.

Then, I floated the idea of "plate mount" vs PCB mount, but that doesn't make sense either. The "vintage" ones are mounted to a plate after a fashion, and the "modern" ones are more traditionally plate mounted. Very frustrating.

The "dual magnet" idea I like a lot, but I fee there should be a more descriptive name for the other ones. I mean, if we only knew about two types of alps, and called one "alps contact switches" what would we do when more are found?

Also, should we include switch options like latching and clicky in with the "honeywell hall effect" "plate mounted" modern" style, or are they sufficiently different enough to merit their own name?

I propose "dual magnet" and "single magnet" be the differentiator for now. I can provide switch disassembly photos of the dual magnet version, because they are dead simple to take apart. I've taken apart an entire KB worth for cleaning.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

I tend to prefer giving each switch its own page. That leaves the main page free for overall information, and each separate switch page free for information specific to that product (history, keyboard list etc). I'm mostly done creating separate pages for each Alps SKCL/M/BL/M switch, which means I can post more detailed image galleries, long keyboard lists, variant tables etc without having the whole lot on one huge page.

It's a tough call at times — sometimes a switch variant isn't significant enough to warrant its own page, and I just add the latching action switches category to the page for the main switch.

BTW, all the switches I've seen say "Micro" on them — why is it called Honeywell Hall Effect if the switches (and keyboards, as I recall) are branded Micro [Switch]? Has anyone seen ones with Honeywell branding?

As for "Alps contact switches", I ran out of useful names for all their switch types very quickly, and the names are all really confusing. Alps seemed to invent a new switch each week. At least with the common type, we have the family codes and many of the actual product codes (not yet posted as a full table).

[dorkvader]

Honeywell owns the microswitch brand.

Still, I tend to call them "honeywell / microswitch" or "microswitch (honeywell)"

Looking at how it mounts, I suspect the latching mechanism is independent of the switch housing, and possibly shouldn't get its own page.